Around Burlington: Who killed Louisa Fritsche? The world will never know
Bob Hansen
for The Hawk Eye
In the catacombs of the Des Moines County Courthouse, where only an idle scribe would venture, is a mother lode of yellowing documents dusted with soot from some long ago forgotten fire.
The pages in the stacks are brittle, and the precise scribbling of long-dead court reporters is fading. Soon, the content of the records will be forever lost.
The gradual disappearance of these records will erase many of the stories of young Burlington. Among the losses will be the story of the Fritsche family that captivated the community in 1893.